Baxter basks in limelight

Terrapins' center uses Unseld-like build to control inside

RICHARD JUSTICE, Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, March 25, 2001

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- If Lonny Baxter were playing at UCLA or Wake Forest, he might look too small to play center. He's 6-8 and 260 pounds. While he routinely plays against taller and heavier opposing centers, no one in the Atlantic Coast Conference is any better at using his body for positioning or playing a Charles Barkley game in the low post.

Basketball fans in the nation's capital are accustomed to his game because two decades ago, the then-Washington Bullets had an earlier model of Baxter.

His name was Wes Unseld, and strapped the Bullets onto his substantial shoulders and led them to back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals in 1978 and 1979.

Baxter is doing the same kinds of things with these Terrapins, who rode his second straight big game to the school's first Final Four appearance. After getting 26 points and 14 rebounds in a victory over Georgetown on Thursday, he had 24 points and six boards Saturday afternoon in an 87-73 victory over Stanford.

"I can't say enough about the way he has played," Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

This game was supposed to be different for Baxter because he was throwing his wide body against Stanford's star 7-footers, Jason and Jarron Collins. Instead, it was Baxter who controlled the twins, powering inside for baskets and even once driving inside and scoring on a reverse layup.

"Lonny has a lot of experience playing against bigger players," Williams said. "He has done it his whole career at Maryland. Just because you're not 6-10 doesn't mean you can't be an effective player."

Baxter's biggest play might have come at the beginning of the second half after Stanford scored seven straight points and closed a 10-point halftime lead to three at 42-39.

But Baxter got the ball inside against one of the twins, powered his way to the basket, scored and drew a foul. After a Stanford turnover, Juan Dixon and Steve Blake hit 3-pointers in consecutive possessions to stretch the lead to 12 at 51-39. Maryland didn't trail by less than nine points the rest of the way.

"We were just desperate to make the Final Four," Baxter said. "We aren't satisfied. We want to go on and win a national championship."

After the game, Stanford's players admitted the game simply had come down to too much Baxter.

"We saw him score a lot of points against Georgetown," Stanford point guard Mike McDonald said. "I don't think he dominated, but he did shoot well."